#126 Drive on the Mainline

After much thought about the five things I wanted to add to my senior year bucket list, I have finally come up with my extra tasks in honor of BMC’s 130th birthday. Over the next few months between posts about everyday life and special events, I will be blogging as I check off activities from the list. In addition to the 69 items from the original one (most of which could not be completed until senior year), the five I have decided to add include:

126. Drive on the Mainline

127. Visit Eastern State Penitentiary

128. Eat a beignet at Reading Terminal Market

129. Ride the Paoli/Thorndale to the last stop

130. Complete a week of random acts of kindness on campus

I am writing today to share that I can officially check off my first new task.

Adam’s Rib. MGM Studios, 1949

Bryn Mawr participates in a program called Zipcar which is a car-sharing business that places cars all over different cities and college campuses allowing users the ability to borrow a car for a small fee per hour. I have wanted to take advantage of this program since freshman year, but I have been too nervous to. If you’ve ever been through the town of Bryn Mawr, or driven on Lancaster Avenue, you know that driving in this area can be slightly really intimidating. Cars fly past, stopping at cross walks tends to be more of a suggestion, and it sometimes feels like honking is the Northeastern way to say hello. Despite this, I decided to finally get a Zipcar membership this year so that I can at last say I’ve driven on the mainline and so I can have another way to take advantage of the area before I graduate.

IMG_7436This past Friday, one of my best friends and I had to pick up some things from the grocery store that would have been too heavy to walk back to school with, so I finally faced my fear and drove! My car’s name was Dionne and at my scheduled time, all I had to do was waive my Zipcar membership card over the reader on the dashboard and voila, I had my own four wheels for an hour. It’s such a neat concept! I wasn’t used to driving a small car with a *very* sensitive gas petal, but overall, the experience was very pleasant (I hope my friend thinks so too!) and my confidence even grew a little. Now, I admit Lancaster Ave. is no Interstate 76, but baby steps. With this new found freedom, who knows where I’ll be off to next. And hey, I only received one Northeastern hello.